- HISTORIC OVERVIEW -

NOTE:
The questions and answers below are given, not primarily as a series of bullet points on the topic, but more as exchanges in a conversational flow. We find this approach to be more conducive to communicating the highly integrated nature of any true understanding about money. To get the maximum benefit, the reader is advised to read these questions and answers as a whole statement.

Question: Why are you bringing forward this article?

Answer: It is to introduce a resolution whereby the Town will petition its Congressional representatives to establish a process to make available to counties and municipalities across the nation funds that will allow us to finance our public works projects with money that is publicly issued directly out of the U.S. Treasury in the form of interest-free loans. This is to be done under the direction of Congress and in accordance with the United States Constitution, which states "The Congress shall have Power ... To coin Money, [and] regulate the Value thereof...." Article 1, section 8, paragraph 5. Or to take any other action relative thereto.

Question: Is there a core principle at stake in this article?

Answer: The right of the Colonies to issue their own money was the economic issue at the heart of the American Revolution. The Revolution could be pictured as a three-legged stool. We as a citizenry are generally familiar with two of the legs. These are (1) personal freedom (as in freedom of speech, religion, assembly, petition, etc.), within the context of (2) democratically-determined law (as oppose to the arbitrary caprice of a monarch, dictator or privileged elite). The all-but-forgotten leg is (3) the right of a sovereign people to create, issue and control its own money.

Question: What evidence is there that the Revolution was about the right of a sovereign people to create, issue and control its own money?

Answer: There is much from the historical record that could be quoted, particularly from Paine, Jefferson and Franklin. Of particular significance, though no longer commonly recognized, the issue was put forth prominently in the "Declaration of Independence." It begins with the familiar declaration, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." This is part of what is essentially a preamble to a carefully-crafted list of reasons for breaking with the mother country, the very first two of which are:

• He (the King) has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
• He (the King) has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

Question: What were these "laws" referred to?

Answer: They refer primarily to measures passed by colonial assembles concerning the right to print, issue, and control their own money supply, and thus enjoy fully the fruits of their own productive enterprise. In Franklin's words - "The Colonies would gladly have borne the little tax on tea and other matters had it not been that England took away from the Colonies (the right to issue) their money, which created unemployment and dissatisfaction."

Question: Are you trying to start another American Revolution?

Answer: No. We are hoping rather to peacefully and constructively finish the one begun by our patriot forbears and founding fathers. Our history texts tell us that the Colonies prevailed in the Revolution, but we suggest that because we have lost the awareness of its monetary cause, it might be fairly argued that the tyranny the Minutemen defeated on the battlefield has since overtaken the American nation by stealth through the monetary system.

Question: What, specifically, is this "tyranny" that has taken over the American nation?

Answer: It is the power of money creation when exercised for private gain, rather than as a sovereign prerogative of the citizenry to promote the general welfare. The Federal Reserve System is largely modeled after the Bank of England, the very system, monetarily speaking, that the Colonies opposed during the Revolutionary War.

Question: After prevailing in a war to secure the power of the nation to issue its own money, how did it slip away?

Answer: While the People have on occasion risen to the heights of purpose and sacrifice required to win a war, afterwards they understandably tend to turn back to their private lives. The money power, on the other hand, never rests, causing Alexander Del Mar (the leading monetary historian of the 19th century) to observe ruefully, "Never was a great historical event (the American Revolution) followed by a more feeble sequel. A nation arises to claim for itself liberty and sovereignty. It gains both of these ends by an immense sacrifice of blood and treasure. Then, when the victory is gained and secured, it hands the national credit (the authority to create money) over to private individuals, to do as they please with it."

Question: What are you calling the "money power"?

Answer: The "money power" is the calculating spirit opposed to the common good that co-opts money itself if it is not taken hold of in a sound and responsible manner by the society whom the currency serves. It does not refer to any particular persons or class of people, but rather to a veritable "spell" that distorts the thoughts and actions of anyone who comes under its influence. In the current situation, that includes virtually all of us, one way or another.

Question: What can be done to escape the "spell" of the "money power"?

Answer: We the People to must maintain an eternal vigilance concerning the exercise of our own monetary prerogative through an accountable political organ, in this case the Federal government. We as a nation have not exercised due diligence on this wise, and it is time to rectify that lapse. The Concord Resolution is a practical first step in that process.

Question: Is there a precedent for the direct issuance of money through the public treasury?

Answer: Indeed there is. In 1690, "Bills of Credit" were issued by the Colony of Massachusetts, itself, as an alternative to borrowing its money supply from England. This was the first paper money issued by any government of the Western world that was not attached to gold, interest-bearing bonds, or to other privately-controlled "backing".

Question: Did the idea catch on?

Answer: Yes. Massachusetts prospered with its interest-free money, and the other colonies soon followed its example. When asked about how he could explain the prosperous condition of the Colonies, Ben Franklin stated: "That is simple. It is only because in the Colonies we issue our own money. It is called colonial scrip, and we issue it in proper proportion to the demand of trade and industry."

Question: And where were the British in all of this?

Answer: The Crown continually opposed these issuances of money, and Parliament eventually assumed the authority to approve or disapprove any laws the Colonies might pass related to new issuances. Their opposition and foot-dragging on such measures effectively deprived the Colonies of their money supply, and led to the first two grievances enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, as related above.

Question: Does the Concord Resolution have a basis in law?

Answer: Yes, it does. Our constitution states clearly that monetary authority should lie with Congress; not with private banks: "Congress shall have the power . . . To coin Money, (and) regulate the Value thereof . . .."